The Paper Jets Wiki
Welcome to the The Paper Jets Wiki Everything there is to know about one of Philadelphia'a brightest young rock bands! About The Paper Jets is an American rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania formed in 2008. The band consists of members Brian E. (vocals, guitar), Scottie Maloney (bass), and Frank Lettieri Jr (drums, vocals). In 2014, they were named one of Philadelphia's Top 25 Local Bands by Radio 104.5 FM and their latest album, We Are All Strange Friends, was crowned one of New Jersey's Top 20 albums of the year by Jersey Beat Magazine. History Following the dissolution of each of the members' previous bands, singer/guitarist Brian Erickson and drummer Frank Lettieri Jr. teamed up with former Ink Spills guitarists Bill Lambusta and Scottie Maloney (who would switch to bass). Naming themselves 'The Paper Jets' after an all-night brainstorming session between Erickson and Lambusta, the newly-minted band made its debut at John & Peter's in New Hope, PA on October 23, 2008. Pictures Like This One The band immediately took to the studio to record its proposed debut album, Pictures Like This One. However, after financial difficulties continued to affect both the band and their studio, the album release was cancelled. Face Forward As it became increasingly clear that Pictures Like This One may never be completed, the group retreated to Lettieri's newly-contructed home studio to record what would become Face Forward, their debut album. Recorded in a single weekend (March 13 - 16, 2009), Face Forward marked a noticeable change in the group dynamic. The band still held out faint hope that Pictures would eventually be released, so Erickson witheld those songs from the Face Forward sessions, prompting the other three members to each contribute their own original material. Mixed by Lambusta, Lettieri, and Jeff Fiedler, Face Forward ''was released on June 9, 2009 to critical acclaim. The ensuing tour was also successful, as the band trekked down to North Carolina to play the annual WE Fest. With an album finally under their belts, The Paper Jets stood poised to take on their next project: a concert film. New Member and Concert Film As the ''Face Forward tour came to a close, the band met keyboardist Kristen Leu in September 2009 who - after approaching Lettieri and Erickson following a performance - asked to join the group. She passed her audition and The Paper Jets immediately scheduled dates to showcase their new five-piece lineup. The Fall of 2009 gave way to the new year and the band agreed that its next release would be a concert film and accompanying DVD. In March of 2010, the group hired director James W. Parker and proucer Scott Kammerer and filmed Bored In Town, a full-length concert film. Unfortunately, the filming and performance did not go according to plan, causing Kristen Leu to quit just two weeks afterward. Following a brief but successful tour down to Washington, DC, the band reconvened with Kammerer to mix the audio from the concert. Meanwhile, Lettieri edited the video together. The group was determined not to let the perceived failure of the show and departure of a member deter its plans. To add extras to the DVD, the band once again turned to Kammerer who provided a mix of "Over Now," for use in the band's official music video. In addition to that, Lambusta came up with the idea of the group performing a stripped-down acoustic set in Lettieri's living room to supplement the concert material since the band could only salvage nine songs from the main performance footage. Bored In Town would eventually be released on November 19, 2011, but not before major upheavel and the departure of another bandmember. Maloney Leaves and the No Good Sessions Following a successful Summer 2010 tour which saw the band playing to a large festival crowd in front of the Washington Monument, The Paper Jets regrouped around their as-yet unreleased concert film project. With a little distance now between the band and the Bored In Town film, they felt they could tackle the project with more clarity. However, family pressure and an increasingly difficult schedule proved too much for Maloney. Following the band's December 2010 performance at Mercer College, Scottie Maloney quit The Paper Jets. Instead of letting this deflate them, the band - Lambusa and Erickson, in particular - immedately took to the studio to quickly record a new EP in the spirit of Face Forward. The two would quickly record basic tracks together, then bring them to Lettieri to finish. They dubbed the project, No Good, and managed to record a total of seven tracks. While the session dates were productive, they lacked the spontaneity that energized the Face Forward recordings. Disagreements over song direction and production decisions led to tension and the No Good sessions were stopped. Lambusta's Departure As the No Good sessions ground to a halt, activity from The Paper Jets was minimal. They performed one show in January 2011 at McGuinn's in Trenton, NJ. Since Maloney was no longer a part of the band, and Erickson proved that singing and playing bass was not an option, they recruited former Invisible Solid Drew Novelli to step in, reuniting the band's original lineup for the first time in four years. They were augmented by former Sly Figurine Tim Ryan, as well, who contributed third guitar. Other former bandmembers Jeff Fiedler and Jim McGee were in the audience that night and came up to the stage for the final song: an ensemble performance of Lettieri's "Memories." Despite the inadvertant reunion and the overall positive reaction to the show, this would prove to be Lambusta's final performance with the band. Activity through the winter was scarce. Lettieri and Erickson gave a TV interview and played an acoustic duo show; a sign that all things in Paper Jets camp were not quite right. And in March of 2011, Lambusta left The Paper Jets. Maloney Returns and the DVD Gets Released After getting his personal affairs in order, Maloney was able to return to The Paper Jets. It was decided they would move forward as a three-piece. Their first order of business was to complete and release their long-overdue concert film which they did on November 19, 2011. The DVD was appended with an extra CD entitled Sorta Bored, a collection of 18 rare, previously unreleased recordings from the Invisible Solid-era. The collection was compiled by Erickson and former bandmate Jeff Fiedler. Said Erickson, "Sorta Bored was our way of giving a respectful nod to our past, but also finally putting it behind us...for the first time, we were looking ahead." We Are All Strange Friends The band hit the road following the release of Bored In Town/Sorta Bored. They hired a new manager in Bill Greenwood, an old WRRC-FM DJ during Lettieri and Erickson's time at the station. He had been a fan of The Invisible Solid and kept up with The Paper Jets in the ensuing years. Greenwood's first move as manager was to help the band decide its next move: revist and complete Pictures Like This One, or begin work on a new concept-oriented song cycle that Erickson was calling We Are All Strange Friends. Erickson showed the band the demos he had been working on and it was ultimately decided that Pictures Like This One would be shelved indefinitely. Category:Browse